a bunch of the boys ?was/?were...

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:27 AM -0500 2/28/05, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>It's not an arguable point at all. You are correct, sir. All that one
>need do is apply the relevant prescriptive rule:
>
>1) "The group" et sim. require a singular verb phrase.
>
>2) "A group" et sim. require a plural verb phrase.
>
>-Wilson [I do but jest, of course. But (1) and (2) above are real
>prescriptive rules that I was taught in high school.]
>

Like all prescriptive rules, I fear these--or at least (2)--will end
up leaking around the edges.  If the predicate relates directly to
the group rather than its members, a singular verb sounds better to
me:

A group of Bantu languages in southern Africa {have/#has} click consonants.
A group of Bantu languages forming an enclave in eastern Nigeria is
(?are) in danger of becoming extinct/has (?have) been shown to be
closely related to a subgroup of languages in the Lake Victoria
region.

[N.B.: The "facts" in the latter sentence were just made up on the spot]

Or even more clearly in:

"A group of people always has (#have) a leader."

And then there are quasi-metalinguistic uses:

"For me, a group of objects always has/?have at least 3 members"

What's crucial is whether we're predicating something directly of the
group or of its members.

Larry